SeaWorld Sees 21% Leap

By Sam Mamudi

SeaWorld Entertainment (SEAS) is enjoying a good first day of trading, with its stock up 21% after its IPO.

The Blackstone Group-owned company went public about three-and-a-half years after the private equity firm bought it for $2.3 billion. The latest trading price values SeaWorld at roughly $2.5 billion, according to the New York Times:

SeaWorld earned $77.4 million last year, four times what it made in 2011. As a sweetener for its new investors, it plans to pay a dividend of 20 cents a share starting this quarter.

But the company, which operates 11 theme parks, including SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, is vulnerable to consumers who remain frugal in the wake of the recession.

SeaWorld gets most of its money from admissions at its parks, and also relies on sales of food and merchandise. Its average ticket price is higher than those of two main rivals, Six Flags and Cedar Fair, according to a research note from Ian Corydon, an analyst with B. Riley & Company.

SeaWorld’s successful launch, together with Fairway Group Holdings‘ (FWM) 33% rise after its IPO on Wednesday, highlights a trend I pointed out in December — recent scrutiny of prospective IPOs has seen them usually do pretty well. One example is animal company Zoetis (ZTS), which went public on Feb. 1 in what was the biggest launch since Facebook (FB): The IPO was priced at $26 a share and today is trading above $32.

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